When using a word in English that can be used in more than one way, it’s important to clarify that I am not speaking today about the seal that comes from the sea. No, I’m referring to a seal that confirms or guarantees something, such as a document. It can also serve as a closure that prevents opening or leakage. Seals also mark an item with a certain impression or designation as to their origin.
Sealed people.
There is a common understanding among those who read the Bible that seals carry weight in the story of mankind. From the earliest of our history, God has used a seal or marking for his purposes. When the son of Adam and Eve killed his brother, Abel, Cain was overwhelmed with the punishment he’d received from God. He worried that as he was sent away to be a restless wanderer, he would become a target for anyone who wanted to kill him.
What did the Lord do? He put a mark of protection on him.
Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” And he placed a mark on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him. Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:15-16 CSB)
We are all doomed to die in our sins without the mark of protection from the Lord.
The dreaded 666.
As a teenager and young adult, I struggled to understand the meaning of this scary number, shared with us in the book of Revelation. Teaching varies widely on what the number means and how it will be applied, leaving even Christians afraid of inadvertently being marked through a chip or implant.
During a recent study of Revelation, I was reminded of the importance of reading what Scripture says over the opinions of man. In the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of the book, John is allowed to see the horrors of Satan, the Anti-Christ, and the False Prophet, which we know is the counterfeit trinity. This false prophet, who is all about deceiving the nations about the Anti-Christ, is given permission to influence those who have not turned to the Lamb.
It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And it makes everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666. (Revelation 13:15-18)
The more we study our Bibles, the more we learn about the importance and meaning of numbers. Six is the number of man, and the triple six is then that in completion. What is seven? The number of God and holiness. What is 666? Falling short of God’s perfection and holiness. It is the mark of those who do not believe in God the Father and in the Lamb.
The seal of perfect protection.
Thankfully, the previous passage came later in my study of the book of Revelation, and I realized, as I should have known all along, that I already had a seal that was protecting me from such worries. What is that seal? The seal of the Holy Spirit, received when a person believes that Jesus is the Messiah and puts their faith in him as Lord and Savior. We know those verses:
Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ, and who has anointed us. He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:5)
Jesus made it clear that those who are his sheep are protected by the Good Shepherd.
My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)
So, in my mind, I knew my salvation was sure under the seal of the Holy Spirit, but the confused teaching around the mark of the beast messed with my mind until I reread and really studied the book of Revelation. Now, I can see that same claim of protection for followers of the Lamb throughout the book:
“Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed: 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites. (Revelation 7:3-4)
Countless people will be sealed by the Holy Spirit before the final day of wrath. When wrath comes, as in with the terrifying locusts, only those without God’s seal will be affected.
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads. (Revelation 9:4)
The next verse reminds us, as it is just after we learn about the mark of 666, that 777 is more powerful! The Creator is always greater than the creature.
Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1)
Those with his seal will be the ones left standing on the day when all things are made new.
Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5, emphasis added)
Which seal will you bear?
Those sealed by the Holy Spirit have nothing to fear as the days grow darker before the final return of Christ Jesus our Lord. Don’t be caught without his protection. You will be marked one way or the other.
The consequences are radically different. The choice is yours. Don’t be caught without the seal of God’s protection on your life and eternity.
Grace and Peace
If you missed the last Wednesday Wisdom, click HERE, or check out these other posts on the Holy Spirit: Learning from the Past: Forty-Two, Walking in His Love: A Study of John’s Letters, 24, Transformed, and Walking in His Love: A Study of John’s Letters, 21.